This is from the highly regarded Politifact web site, which holds politicians accountable for what they say.

Education cuts show up in Rick Scott’s budget

Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his highly anticipated state budget on Feb. 7, 2011, which, as promised, calls for major reductions to government spending along with tax cuts for property owners and businesses.

Scott’s two-year spending plan would shrink the overall state budget from $70.3 billion to $65.9 billion in 2011-2012 and to $63.3 billion in 2012-2013. Cuts were expected almost everywhere — except in the area of education, where Scott has said that funding would remain the same.

At least, that’s what people thought.

Scott’s proposed budget for next year includes billions of dollars in education cuts. (The actual cut depends on what education budget figure you consult, but the cut would be between $3.3 billion and $4.8 billion, with per-student funding to decrease by 10 percent.) Some of that loss is offset by having teachers contribute 5 percent to their retirement and by the inclusion of temporary federal education dollars. Still, per-student funding would shrink if Scott’s budget is ultimately approved.

“I’ve heard nothing but that education funding wasn’t going to be touched,” said Florida Education Association spokesman Mark Pudlow. “We all were wondering what kind of alchemy we were going to see. Of course, what we saw was tons of cuts to education.”

When Scott met with reporters after announcing his budget, he was asked if he had flipped on his campaign rhetoric.

“No, it’s not going back on anything I promised,” Scott said. “What I said throughout the campaign and what I’m saying today — any money that came out of state general revenue, we’re not cutting that. Any money that they relied on federal bailouts, that is different.”

But that’s not what Scott said just four days prior in Tampa.

During an announcement where Scott said he would cut local school property taxes, called the required local effort, he was asked specifically about the effect on education funding. Here’s the question and answer from Feb. 3, which we just happened to record:

Question: You referred to cuts in the RLE (required local effort) property tax. Do you have a plan to make up that revenue or will the schools take that as a loss?

Scott: “No, my commitment is to make sure the money that they’ve received they’ll get again. Where I’m getting the savings is, I’m reducing the state government. What I’m trying to do is keep the school budgets the same.”

School budgets are funded through multiple sources. Local districts contribute property taxes through the required local effort, which is set by the state, and additional optional property taxes, which are set by county school boards. The state contributes general fund revenues through the state sales tax, as well as money from education trust funds. And the federal government contributes as well. The combination produces total school funding.

If one part of the funding — required local effort — is reduced while the other parts simply stay the same, the result is less school money overall.

Speaking in Tampa, Scott made no effort to distinguish or differentiate the funding formula — all he said is he would keep school budgets the same.

We also found references during the campaign when Scott was on the record saying education funding would not be cut as part of his budget.

And then during the general election, Scott again was asked to respond to questions over his education spending plan. According to the Associated Press, a spokeswoman for Alex Sink, Scott’s Democratic opponent, called the Scott plan a rip-off of education. Here’s how Scott responded in a Sept. 28 story: “We’re not slashing the budget, our focus is to spend the dollars well,” he said. “We’re gonna drive down property tax rates, but we’re gonna do that as we figure out how to save money. We’re gonna make sure the money is there for education.”

Again, Scott offered no suggestion he was talking only about general revenue funding.

One more thing: In comments after releasing his budget, Scott said he only promised no cuts to general revenue — but he’s actually making a slight cut there as well. Scott’s budget includes about a $155 million cut in general revenue funding in 2011-2012. Yes, it’s a small cut from a proposed budget of $12.3 billion, but it’s a cut nevertheless.

At the very least, Scott deliberately and purposely suggested that education funding would be held harmless in his first state budget. He made comments to that effect just days before his budget was released. Yet, when he announced his budget, cuts were included. We rate Scott’s claim False.

Comments

Jeb Bush cut billions and billions of dollars in taxes during his tenure. He also paid companies like Scripps hundreds of millions to move to Florida. If cutting taxes is such a stimulas to employment increases why does Florida have one of the highest unemployment rates in the US? Florida already has low taxes as compared to the rest of the US. I think these massive tax cuts to education are idiotic and will cause much more harm then good.

I am not surprised – every time I listened to his plans to “save” by cutting waste in the state budget, I tried to imagine how he would do that as well as keep school funding level. I couldn’t imagine how he could possibly make that happen, and now I see that he couldn’t. Remember when President Clinton was chastised over his defense of his actions in the Monica Lewinsky case, and he said that it depended upon your definition of the work “is”? Well, this is another case of an elected official using semantics to try to cover the fact that he is not living up to his promises made during his campaign.
I don’t care who it is, or which political party he represents, this is just plain wrong, and I can’t imagine how anyone could defend these actions.

Back in the 1970’s & 1980’s, American businesses were able to increase their bottom line by taking money from pensions, reducing benefits to middle & lower level employees, and by making arbitrary cuts to expenses. Gov Scott is indeed running Florida like a corporation – one that will go bankrupt in 20 years.

Education of our youth is critical for Florida’s survival. Cutting education to save a buck is a death sentence. But, if you dont care, I don’t care.

All this, and it’s only Mr. Scott’s second month in office. Imagine the damage he will do in 4 years. 2.5 millions idiots cast their ballot for this unconvicted criminal, and now our state is paying the price. I am sure that this is only the first lie that we will hear form Mr. Scott. As much as I hate to, I have to put my trust in the legislature to restore funding to schools. We cannot absorb a cut as large as Mr. Scott proposes. Schools are already struggling to find money the state won’t allot them to pay for the class-size amendment. As I recall, there is an amendment on the books about properly funding education. It’s time for a class action suit against the Mr. Scott and the legislature. It will only be one of many lawsuits that will face the state during Mr. Scott’s tenure.

I have great respect for Politifact. They don’t just say “we think this statement is false or true or whatever, they explain WHY they have arrived at that conclusion. AND they link to the evidence so that you can view it for yourself. AND they aren’t shy about calling a lie a lie, regardless of party affiliation.

They also have a “Scott-o-meter” that tracks progress on campaign promises. (They have a meter for Obama’s promises too.)

The commenter who calls himself “America” may not care what the facts are. But some of us do.

Listen, Alot of us know that when the Florida Legislators started robbing
from the Lottery Money that was ear marked only for Education, is what started the downfall for our kids in Florida. Allowing it to continue to happen is an insult to the integrity of the Citizens of Florida. If Gov.Scott does not wish to fix that nor reverse the pilferaging of the Education money then maybe we just might see an impeachment of a Gov.

Lottery money was setup for education of all schools in Florida, Period.

Thank you Rick Scott! Bring some sanity to this State. There is plenty of money for teachers and classrooms, unfortunately the waste, fraud and abuse of do-nothing administrators, unions and school boards is the reason our kids NEVER benefit from increased spending. If liberals stop complaining, then I worry, so keep it up.

I am not a bit surprised. This man has no concept of how the world works. He only understands throw money at it if it’s for him (note the increase in his budget for his own staff) but take it from those that cannot afford to make it well.

Just like many of the Tea Party candidates they talk and talk and talk. They say all the good things that give die-hard conservative voters that “warma and fuzzy” feeling. But when it comes to substance, they are lacking quite a bit, and fail to deliver. Tea Party candidates rarely have any concept of reality. When it comes time to put their money, and they usually have a lot of that and nothing else, where their mouth is they fall flat on their faces.

Scott duped the Floridians who voted for him. Just like when he duped the US taxpayers out of Medicaid dollars when he ran Columbia/HCA. This guy is a professional liar and now he’s in a position to dupe the FL taxpayers. He fooled a lot of Floridians and they ought to be ashamed of themselves voting someone like this into office. He showed up in a clean new suit, said all the things the voters wanted to hear, hooked them on his sweet serenade, and never meant one word of it. Does anyone think a multi-millionaire CEO who lives in a mansion in expensive Naples and flies around on his private jet has any concept what the common Floridian goes through on a daily basis? He’s not one of us. He has no idea how we live our lives. He’s not connected to us at all. He just doesn’t get it.

Just like his cutting taxes to make FL business friendly. Florida already has the 5th best tax base for business in the United States. Corporate taxes are not what’s keeping buisinesses away. It’s the poor education, poor transportation infrastructure, and the poor quality of life. Companies don’t want to pick up shop and move hundreds of employees and subject their families to a crappy state with horrible schools, traffic jams all over I-4, and high crime because no one wants to be police, corrections officers, forensic scientists, or state prosecutors or defense attorneys for the little pay and soon-to-be-cut benefits.

But, history repeats itself and just like before Florida yet again becomes the embarassment of the nation. I guess as long as every other word out if his mouth is “tax cuts” Floridians will turn a blind eye and smile to all the bad things this guy is doing to our state.

if you want to know the strength of a business one of the factors to research is their training and education budgets. If those budgets are in decline, it usually means so is the business.
-
gilroydispatch.com/printer/article.asp?c=253906
-
…..2008 book by two Harvard economists called “The Race Between Education and Technology.”

They would see that authors Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz establish a clear link between the number of high school and college graduates produced in any modern society and its economic growth.

So what’s new, another liar in office. Aren’t they all? Does anyone really believe that any of these people that get elected are in any way connected to the public? They all say what you want to hear to get elected, just as everyone does. Be positive and ignore the bad. That is our society these days. So why would anyone think the political arena would be any different?

you deserve whatever happens to you. This sort of complacency not only allows corruption but also enables corruption. When the citizens give up we lose.
-
“Where the people fear the government, you have tyranny; where the government fears the people, you have liberty.”
- Thomas Jefferson

What business wants to locate in areas where the schools are really bad?
.
Oh yeah, the ones that get the most money to move there. The ones that don’t pay enough for the governmental agencies to recover the money they paid for the company to move there.

Another Sentinel headline by another columnist also makes the false accusation that Governor Scott lied. Interesting how the “group think” appears to be alive and well at the Sentinel. Do they give you guys a smiley face on your annual performance review if you say mean things about Governor Scott?

Scott’s problem is he just can’t be upfront about what he’s going to do. From the beginning, he should simply have said, “Look, schools are going to take a big hit. Sorry bout that. Tighten the belts.”

Then he would have been consistent. He makes it awfully hard for his fellow Republicans to back him when he says one thing and does another.

Having lived in 12 other states and witnessed the level of quality of education in those states, I think that Florida’s true education quality is well above average. Florida schools suffer the same handicap as several other border states, such as Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado & California. They are forced to carry the illegal and legal immigrants who can barely speak English. These people count against our schools when various measurement tools are applied.
Of course money is important. But more important for the teachers is to be left alone and allowed to teach without constant interference from above.
I’ll believe Scott and the Legislature are serious about saving education dollars when they abolish the residual DROP program, making it retroactive to July 1, 2010. This is particularly true when applied to the double-dippilng administrators and their underlngs.

I still don’t see where SCOTT lied. He didn’t change the funding. The money was FEDERAL. Is this were we have to learn the difference between State & Local Government vs. Federal? And these cuts were made across all of the states.
Florida ranks in the top ten for education, yet we spend less than half per student what states that outrank us spend. That sounds good to me (but I was education in Florida).

He doesen’t care about education. Why should he. He is a rich, selfish person that can afford to pay private school and college for his kids. And if he really grew up in a poor home he would have more empathy toward the average working American.